BOSTON – Senior goaltender Kevin Regan (South Boston, Mass.), of the University of New Hampshire men’s ice hockey team, was named the 56th recipient of the Walter Brown Award, presented annually to the best American-born college hockey player in New England. The President of the Gridiron Club of Greater Boston, Al Robichaud, made the announcement Thursday evening.

Regan, along with freshman forward James vanRiemsdyk (Middletown, N.J.), was named one of 15 semifinalists back in February, marking the second-straight season Regan was selected as a semifinalist. After being named a finalist, the assistant captain then beat out the other two finalists – Boston College’s Nathan Gerbe and Boston University’s Bryan Ewing – to win the award. Regan is the sixth Wildcat to earn the award, joining Bob Miller (1977), Ralph Cox (1979), Ty Conklin (2001), Mike Ayers (2003) and Steve Saviano (2004).

Regan has already taken home his share of hardware this season. He is currently one of 10 finalists for the Hobey Baker Memorial Award, was selected unanimously as Hockey East’s Player of the Year, named an All-Hockey East First Team honoree, was Hockey East Goalie of the Month in February, split Hockey East Player of the Week honors Feb. 25, took home Hockey East Defensive Player of the Week honors seven times this season – most recently March 24 when he shared the award after setting a Hockey East semifinal record for saves by stopping a career-high 62 shots in a triple-overtime loss to Boston College on March 21.

At 23-7-1, Regan is the first goaltender in UNH history to post back-to-back 20-win seasons. His .933 save percentage is the second best single-season mark in school history, trailing only his own .935 effort from last season. Regan’s 23 wins and 2.12 goals-against-average rank him fourth on UNH’s single-season lists in those respective categories. Regan has won 13 of his last 15 games, including an unbeaten month of February when he was 7-0-1.

The assistant captain has been even better against Hockey East opponents, posting an 18-4-1 record to go along with a 1.83 GAA and a .940 save percentage. The 18 wins and .940 save percentage are the second-best marks in a single Hockey East season. In his last 18 games versus Hockey East foes, Regan has compiled a 16-1-1 record with a 1.55 GAA, .952 save percentage and three shutouts.

In the conference, Regan ranks at the top of all the major goaltending categories both overall and in Hockey East play. Regan is first in GAA, save percentage, wins, shutouts (3/3 HE) and winning percentage (.758/.804 HE). Nationally, Regan stands with the elite as he ranks third in save percentage, third in winning percentage and 11th in GAA.

Regan’s stellar season is a fitting cap to his sparkling career. His name tops most of the goaltending lists in UNH’s record book, including wins (70), saves (3,208), save percentage (.929), games played (111) and minutes (6539:46). Regan currently sits second with a 2.25 GAA, but has a chance to overtake Ty Conklin’s 2.18 GAA.

Regan has also left his name in a few places in Hockey East’s record book. His .932 save percentage is the best all-time, while his 50 wins place him second and are just two shy of the record. Regan owns the fourth-best GAA (2.08) in Hockey East play all-time, and has the fifth-highest winning percentage at .726.

Fans can begin voting for their favorite candidate now at www.hobeybaker.com. The Hobey Hat Trick, which narrows the 10 finalists to three, will be announced on Wednesday, April 2. The 28th Hobey Baker Memorial Award will be presented as part of the Frozen Four festivities on Friday, April 11 in Denver, Colo. and can be seen live on ESPNU.

The fifth-ranked Wildcats (25-9-3) will face No. 12 Notre Dame (24-15-4) in the first round of the NCAA West Regional on Friday night (6:30 p.m. EST) in Colorado Springs, Colo.